#ontheblog / faith

Now, before I continue, let me preface - I am still working through this area of my life - while I aim to make each day better than the last, I completely understand when we've fallen off, and over commit and have to back out, let people down, etc. So - just know, you are not alone my dear, not in the slightest bit.

For awhile now, I’ve been away from blogging, creating content, or really engaging people with my site. I had been wrestling through hard life changes, a recent job change, financial obligations, and trying to get a better grasp of this thing we call "adulting".

While on my break, God really reminded of a few things about commitments, and I hope that this post would encourage you to hear God's voice and opinion in the affairs of your life, because truthfully, He cares about every intimate detail - more than we could ever imagine. With that said, let’s take a little walk through some realities I’ve had to face…

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.”

— GENESIS 11:4

Back in January, I prayed and fasted for the first 3 weeks of the New Year to get a clear idea of what God may want me to focus on. So far this year, all I kept hearing and sensing was the idea of building well. So much so, that the above scripture came to mind. You see, in the this story, about the Tower of Babel, as they tried to build a city - they built it with the motivation of making themselves famous, important and placing their identity into this one thing.

What are your motivations?

Throughout the year, I had seen the importance of building well throughout various parts of my life. Building well in my finances, building well in my relationships, building well in my workplace, building well in the ministries I serve, building well in my own business, and the list goes on. During my time away I got a clearer sense of what it means to build well and I want to share it with you.

What does it mean to build well?

Building well - in it's simplest meaning, is having a solid and strong foundation. It's knowing first who I am in Christ - so that my works can glorify Him and not me. It means that in every area of my life, where the Lord has made me aware, restructuring my life to be built on the cornerstone of God's word. it means, ensuring that I am fully present, whole and prepared for situations, people or things I’ve committed to. Ideally, it’s the notion that I full ownership of how I show up in the spaces I’m in, the people I deal with and the work that I do.

For example, with my business, I took all of July 2015 - July 2016 to really search and dig to the heart of where I wanted to take my business. Did I have the proper steps in place? Do I have a strong, solid foundation? Could I communicate that to anyone effectively? - Does that make sense?

#1 - Call a Spade a Spade. My character effects my calling.

Meaning, it's time to stop faking the funk. I want to believe that I live a life where I’m truly transparent with myself and others but I’ve had to face some pretty hard realities on different areas of my life. I wasn't as financially sound as I thought, I wasn't as emotionally stable in my relationships as I had hoped. I wasn't truthfully trusting God in places where He promised me good things. I. Wasn't. Truthful. It's hard to face the truth - but it's so worth it. Really, it's incredibly freeing. It’s something about saying, “You know.. I’m actually a failed person in need of a lot of God’s grace, love and peace to make it through the day. And if you’d be so kind, extend that to me too, please.'“

#2 - Time to shape up.

Once I faced my realities, I began to sense the Lord ask me, "Now, what are you going to do about it?" "How are you going to move in accordance to my word?" (Don't you hate those dreadful questions?) I had to repent, ask for forgiveness, and really ask God to change my mind, change my heart, and change me. Once I did that, I brainstormed ways I could proactively lay a strong foundation.

Whether it meant telling a person how hurt I had been by them, or reframe my business ideas, and model...whatever it "is" - it's time to do it. Time to shape up. Time to grow up. And that’s the hardest part right? It’s easy to internally confront your issues but then to take action and address them to another person? Absolutely Not. But really…absolutely, yes.

#3 - Building takes time

I think my biggest takeaway from my time away was that, building takes time. No, I don't know when it'll all come together. No, I don't know how "much" time it'll take. BUT what I do know, is that time is needed in building a foundation. Much like when you build a house, laying the cement, waiting for it to dry, smoothing it over, adding more, and repeating those steps takes time; yet without the strong and smooth foundation, the whole house crumbles and will fade away - let that not be our story.

What does this all mean for you?

It means that you've really got to sit down and have a heart to heart with yourself. Setting time aside to truly assess where you are, and where you want to be. We’re halfway through 2019 and I want all of us to let the next six months be drastically different and exceed every expectation and limitation we’ve put on ourselves.

It means that you've got to seek forgiveness, forgive someone, restructure and reframe areas of your life. It means, putting your big-girl panties on and bossing up. Growing up. Adulting isn't promised to be easy - that, we do know.

It means creating a timeline, and being easy on yourself for however long it may take to fully lay a strong foundation for your life. It means understanding that you have a (huge) part to play in the direction your life will go - yet being flexible and wise to the Lord's leading. Time is key, is essential and needed.